Reimagining ELT in Pakistan: A Critical Analysis of Integrating Culturally Responsive Teaching in Undergraduate Curriculum Reform
Abstract
The focus of this article is the curriculum design and content development of a national-level undergraduate education reform project in Pakistan that incorporates culturally responsive teaching (CRT) into English language teaching (ELT). This comprehensive reform project aims to revamp all discipline curricula, including sciences, social sciences, and language teaching. In a collaboration between the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the Regional English Language Office of the US Embassy, the ELT part of the project involves the development of three course books and a teacher manual, as well as the training of 25 Pakistani master trainers in a US university to assist in teacher preparation for the implementation of the new curriculum. The project aims to transform ELT education in the country from a delivery-based approach to autonomous project-based learning that integrates the multilingual competencies and cultural resources of undergraduate students. The article critically analyzes examples of activities from the second course, "Cross-cultural Communication and Translation," which includes multilingual advertisements, translation, multilingual project description, and the use of local folklore from students' communities to raise their awareness of their linguistic and cultural assets. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the current analysis for similar contexts where a culturally-responsive approach to foreign/second language teaching is required.
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